Few institutions have LGBT support groups. CT explores the blues of the rainbow brigade on campus

Stuti Agarwal

About 1,500 people turned up at the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) pride parade in Kolkata recently — many of them college students, who’d come out to support the movement — but very few colleges in the city have a support structure for students from the community. In fact, CT went looking and found that Presidency is the only institution that has an LGBT support group, called Ardhek Akaash. Koumi Dutta, a member of the group, said, “Ardhek Akaash runs a magazine by the same name, which goes with the tagline ‘Lingo Boishamyo Birodhi Potrika’. Earlier, we only focused on women’s issues, but after the cast of “Arekti Premer Golpo” came to our campus for a seminar, we included LGBT issues. Though it started out from Presidency College, the group is trying to spread to other college campuses. People from across colleges can come and take part in our meetings as we have no specific membership criteria. For the Pinki Pramanik case, we organized interactive seminars and distributed leaflets to make people aware.” Ardhek Akaash gets a crowd of 50 or more people at all of its meetings. But why is it that apart from Presidency, no other college has similar support groups? “The problem with LGBT support groups is that they have rarely been linked to educational institutions. Most gay rights activists have been fighting for personal rights and for acceptance in society,” said Tirthankar Guha Thakurta, founding member of online support group SACH (Students Against Campus Homophobia), which has over 150 members. He added, “The good thing is that generally, violence of any kind is not supported in campuses. So be it teasing or ragging, teachers will take action if it reaches harassing proportions. At SACH, people come to us seeking advice on how to come out of the closet and not that of harassment.” Candy, who studied multimedia at St Xaviers College said, “I came out in the second year. Though I had a very supportive friends group, some of my peers were really homophobic. I recall a particular incident where a boy, who thought I was hitting on his girlfriend, stood up in class and started yelling and hurling abuses at me. He even called me a ‘gay bastard’. But the teacher threw him out of the class. On the day Section 377 was decriminalized, this classmate walked up to me and said, ‘Now, they may as well decriminalize bestiality and paedophilia’.” Neelkantha, a BSc student of same college, said, “Some of my close friends, who knew I was bisexual, were supportive. The teachers, even if they knew, weren’t partial. But some of the peers — who guessed my orientation — were sarcastic. However, I soon won them over through my participation in co-curricular activities. I was even voted as the class representative and made my way to the organizing committee of Xavotsav.” Many students feel that acceptability and confidence are linked. Jharna, a lesbian who studied at Loreto College, said, “I was surprised by how much our friend circle was willing to accept my orientation. The administration knew about my orientation, but was neutral. But yes, some of the peers were homophobic. I remember this particular girl who would scream and run from the room as soon as my girlfriend entered. For the others, the discomfort went when they got to know me better.” Her partner, Shay, has always found the peer group to be quite supportive. Parth, who studied from Scottish Church College, before joining Rajabazar Science College said, “Last year, my picture came out in the papers when participated in an LGBT event. People were very supportive and teachers unbiased. However, I have sometimes seen straight people avoiding me.” Sayak Manna, who studies in Ballygunge Science College, said, “I am a proud gay. Even my parents know about it. My friends group was stood by me after I told them about my orientation. The teachers in my college, Scottish Church, were extremely supportive too. One should know how to stand up for who you are.” What can be done to make students from LGBT community feel comfortable and safe in colleges? Queer activist Pawan Dhall had this to say. “The biggest problem for students of the LGBT community is teasing. Teachers in general should be sensitive to this. They should also have counselors in colleges who would listen to problems of harassment and make the students involved in teasing aware about LGBT issues.” Niladri Chatterjee, who teaches New Gender Studies at Kalyani University said, “I know many teachers who are extremely openminded and are supportive of sexual minorities. In fact, I know of no teacher who has made homophobic comments in my presence. There may be a few, but I’m sure they are a tiny minority.” When asked about measures that can be taken to reduce campus homophobia, Tirthankar said, “The curriculum needs to be more sensitive. Teachers should have an open mind on sexuality — and not just heterosexuality. An anti-homophobic squad should be part of anti-ragging squads in college to help LGBT students.” (Some names have been changed on request ) The recent pride march in Kolkata

Youngsters who support LGBT rights got together for a CT photoshoot on College Street

American Center director Jeffrey Reneau, founder of Velvet —a support group for LGBT — Sonali Roy and actor June show solidarity for the community at the Kolkata pride parade